Snow Category

For those of you itching to get your fill of this year’s winter wonderland extravaganza, you are in for a treat. This year the masterminds behind the AST Dew Tour bring you the inaugural Winter Dew Tour. The tour will feature three stops from the Rocky Mountains to the snowy peaks above Lake Tahoe, running from December 2008 to February 2009

The Winter Dew Tour will feature not only Men’s but Women’s Snowboarding and Skiing in Slopestyle and Superpipe. Attendees and viewers alike will enjoy live concerts, other activities and contests to keep the tour at its best all day and night.

The schedule of events for the upcoming Wither Dew Tour, breaking this December new a town (hopefully) near you:

Around the time you begin sliding to a stop on that inevitable final run of every winter season, it begins to set in. The abrupt and brutal realization that it isn’t just the closing of another warm spring day at your home resort, but also the end of another ski-year overall is a disheartening, depressing feeling. It’s at that very point you realize that you couldn’t be farther away from your next ski-session than you are at that very moment. Now, at the bottom of the mountain, all that’s left is to pull your boards from your feet and begin the ultimate walk-of-shame out to the parking lot. Winter was wild and beautiful, but she has suddenly booted you out to the street and is moving on to another part of the world.

The ensuing months of May-August find us in a self-imposed state of denial. We try to play it off as if the fact that we are almost half-a-year and half-a-world away from snow doesn’t really bother us, but inside we’re crying. Our passion was ripped away from us and the triple-digit temperature tells us it’s going to be a while before we get it back.

Then September arrives. It’s the first month the light at the end of the tunnel becomes visible. It’s still hot outside, but you know the heat is on it’s last breath and will soon give way to the crisp, clean, fall air. Ski and Snowboard mags started lining the shelves at grocery stores and gas stations. New boards and accessories start showing up in your local-shops, the leaves will soon start to change color. The winter who so hastily took-off on you just months before is giving you signs she will soon be back in town for another season of magical rides.

The 2007-2008 ski year began with 4 ski resorts holding on to their outdated policies of banning snowboarders from using their mountains. Having seen enough, Jake Burton called on snowboarders everywhere last winter to peacefully poach these policies away. Now the 2008-2009 ski year will start with just 3 resorts unwilling to release the aforementioned ban from their kung-fu death grip.

While Mad River Glen, Alta, UT., and Deer Valley, UT continue to hold their collective noses in the air regarding snowboarders, Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico finally relented and opened their resort to any and all in March of ‘08. “The time is right for skiers and riders to share the slopes here at Taos Ski Valley,” said Adriana Blake, Taos Ski Valley Marketing Manager. “At the end of the day, it’s not important how our visitors get down the mountain, as long as we can all enjoy this special place.”

As for the other three? Although there has been speculation for years that Alta would finally lift the snowboarding-ban, it’s still a skiers-only affair up there in ‘08-’09. However, I would guess Alta to be the most likely of the three to let the ban go. It would be a huge financial benefit to allow an all-access pass between themselves and nearby Snowbird opened up to both skiers and snowboarders.

Deer Valley? Honestly, at $83 a lift ticket……who cares? Maybe that’s just my slim wallet speaking but they can keep those ludicrous prices to themselves. With Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons serving as very worthy alternatives for snowboarders in the area, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of pressure on Deer Valley drop the ban.

Mad River Glen….”Despite the fact that snowboarders account for 25% to 30% of all lift tickets sold in the United States, don’t expect Mad River Glen to lift its ban on snowboards any time soon.” That was an excerpt of a June ‘07 press release by Mad River Glen Marketing Director Eric Friedman. He was sure to include a “Dont hold your breath” line in the concluding paragraph of the statement just to make their stance crystal clear.

Banning snowboarders from resorts is an out-dated policy that eventually will go away. It may take some time, effort, and peaceful poaches, but with time the sabotage on stupidity will be complete. Jake Burton and the snowboarding community will make sure of it.

In a move that has been forecast by many for quite some time now, Quiksilver is apparently set to finally part ways with Rossignol, the ski company they purchased for $300 million back in March, 2005. The writing has been on the wall with move for a while, never more so than with the removal of former Quiksilver President Bernard Mariette back in February. Mariette was at the forefront of the Rossignol acquisition.

With a binding offer being made by Chartreuse & Mont Blanc, led by Bruno Cercley, former CEO of Rossignol, for a proposed $100 million, Quiksilver is now ready to set itself free from it’s failed venture into the ski industry and get back to focusing on the core brands they have built their empire upon. “This offer is a compelling transaction for Quiksilver and represents the culmination of a thorough sale process. Once completed, we can fully concentrate our efforts on our core apparel and footwear brands Quiksilver, Roxy and DC.”- Robert B. McKnight, Jr (President/CEO) Quiksilver, Inc.

The famous Woodward facilities have been long known for helping skaters, BMX riders, and FMX riders develop new tricks and push the limits of what’s possible. They are now getting their newest facility in Copper Mtn, Colorado, ready to open its doors. The official ground breaking has already taken place and the 19,000 sq ft winter facility is on its way and should be ready for the ‘08/’09 winter season.

Copper Mountain will be the home of the new Woodward project and is sure to help push the limits with snowsports as they have done and continue to do with previous training facilities and coaching in other action sports. Skiing and Snowboarding will certainly benefit from the experience brought to the table by the Woodward staff. In addition to the coaching staff, training tools such as trampolines and foam pits will undoubtedly help progress these sports as it certainly makes a difference when you’re not learning new tricks on hardpack landings.

I am excited to see the results and developments that take place as a result of a season long coaching facility with the reputation and professionalism of Woodward. Stay tuned for updates and news on this story.

Simon Dumont rewrote the record books breaking the world record quarter-pipe air that was previously held by Terje Haakonsen at 32.1 feet. Dumont, earlier in the year had attempted to break the record in Aspen at the X-Games but failed due to a hard fall that ended up injuring his shoulder.

Going back to his home mountain of Sunday River to attempt the record again, Simon showed up with even more determination than ever. Sunday River custom built Simon the quarter pipe upon request and had park staff and patrol on hand to help along the way, tweaking the jump and ensuring the best and most safe conditions for the world record attempt.

On the first day, Simon took a hard fall to the flats and ended up bruising his heel. On the second day, Simon followed suit by punishing himself with a few falls hurting both his heels and re-injuring his knee. Being the competitor that he his, he just kept pushing and pushing. This is something we’ve seen out of Simon before, as he doesn’t let anything stand in his way, not even life-altering injuries to which he’s had more than one that very well could have ended up leaving him paralyzed for life.

Dumont finally broke the record, boosting a massive 35 feet out of the QP. He crushed the record in style too, throwing a cork-nine tail-grab. Apparently just going big isn’t enough, the guy has to throw in a big-smooth trick too. Congratulations to Simon for pushing the limits and setting the new world record!!! Here’s the video….

The film crew Nimbus Independent has just released its second webisode of Hunting Yeti, putting down some of the most impressive skiing and snowboarding ever seen on film. From huge step downs to lines that will blow you away, the crew makes it look easy while having the time of their lives. The crew travels around from Montana, Canada, and California. Cruising through the back country on their sleds to find absolutely rippable lines and putting their own unique style in everything they do. This is one piece of film that no snow fanatic can afford to miss.

The fun continues in Sweden at the JOSS. Each day Jon has unveiled a new jump with great results. The step up hip, the old school aerial jump, the JOI gap, and the rhythm section so far. Each day the level of riding is pushed also. Today was no exception to that with all sorts of doubles being thrown, including the double cork 1260 by both Jacob Wester and Jon himself. A lot of the competitors followed the double trend throwing Kangaroo flips, double fronts, and other variations throughout the day. Competitors also threw down huge spins and small floaty spins. Grabs were tweaked out to the max with the massive amount of air time and float off the jump. Look forward to remaining features to be hit through the rest of the week. Click here for video coverage.

A new breed of corporation, Surface is independently run, funded, and promoted company. Their goals is not to “keep” up with the mainstream companies out there, rather, focus their energy on what they do best and love the most, skiing. Always open to new ideas and concepts, Surface has its heart in skiing and not the idea of gain and lucre of the corporate world. It’s a group of skiers, and friends that are interested in skiing and making skis. The line up includes three different models, the live life, the life live soft, and the watch life.

In the beginning, Surface was plagued by edge problems. Since then Surface has found a new home in Austria to house their pressing. Unfortunately, I was unable to ski the live life series but I did get the chance to ski the watch life and they’re a lot of fun. A poppy, park inspired ski that is able to go and ski anywhere. I found it a little soft at high speeds in the powder but over-all I liked the ski and felt it was a well made stick that was a lot of fun to ride.

If you are interested in a different ski and a new company check out Surface. The team is made up mainly of local Salt Lake skiers that are extremely talented and approachable. Blake Nyman being the unofficial spokesperson of the collaboration is a dedicated skier and a would be able to answer any questions you may have about the company. Jordan Seldin, also a team rider is much like Blake and would love to talk skiing to just about anyone. Most of the days the Surface family can be found at Alta where they enjoy the world famous snow and terrain.

Today marked both the final of the Swedish Open and the continuation of the Jon Olsson Super Sessions. The day began with the Swedish Open showcasing the local talent and there was plenty of it. The open brought out a lot of young kids that threw down in hopes of winning the grand prize, an invitation to the next Jon Olsson event.

Oscar Sherlin and Kim Boberg battled the day out but in the end it was Kim that was victorious. The Jon Olsson competition format was a jam session with Jon and Phillou Poirier judging the field. Competitors threw everything from switch 5’s to 10’s to switch 10’s. After the day’s events ended, the Super Sessions continued with a night session on the rhythm section.

The rhythm section is a bmx style section with 3 jumps back to back. Once again, it took a while for the athletes to adjust to the unique jumps, but in the end the riders threw down as usual. Simon Dumont rode a sick line consisting of a massive lawn dart to a double frontflip. Colby West zero spinned all three jumps. Jacob Wester and Sammy Carlson were also going huge right of the bat and laying down super stylie, smooth tricks. The session was under the lights allowing riders to go well into the night. It seems Jon has done it again with every feature he builds bringing out progressive tricks, huge air and style in spades. For video click here.

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